THE DAILY MOJO by Adam Daniel

Both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference Finals have been excellent, despite there not being any real nail-biters outside of today’s Western Conference Game 4. Here’s my thoughts on each series so far.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

I wrote my last blog following Boston’s Game 2 loss at home, and I was quite negative about Boston’s chances of stealing a win in Detroit – which they proceeded to do the very next game. I also wrote that I was fearful of Rajon Rondo’s play under the Detroit pressure; well, I still stand by that. In my opinion the only way Boston can win the series is huge performances by at least 2 of the ‘Big Three’ in the next 2 or 3 games. So far they have played solid but unremarkably, and Detroit have kept them in the series only by the poor play of Billups and Prince. The two surprise contributors of the series have been Pistons bench players Antonio McDyess and Rodney Stuckey. McDyess has been money from the floor, nailing any jumpshot where he has an inch of space. Stuckey has been relentlessly aggressive, and the ‘poor man’s Dwayne Wade’ label is apt in my opinion. It will be interesting to see this fearless and talented young player develop.

On the C’s side, it has been great to watch Garnett channel his aggression into great post play – just check out some of these highlights from his commanding Game 3 performance:

However, this is highlight clip from Game 4 is one I’m sure he would like to forget:

With the series tied at 2 all, I am very much looking forward to an intense and competitive games 5 and 6 (and hopefully 7!)…. but that said, I think either of the Eastern Conference teams will have trouble with whichever team emerges from the great…

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

This Spurs-Lakers series has had me riveted. It’s been very unusual too in that I wrote earlier how much I would like the Spurs to get rolled, only to find that as I watch the games I can’t help but barrack for them. Perhaps it’s the loathing I have for Kobe Bryant’s character, or the fact that (with the exception of Bruce Bowen) I just really like the Spurs bench. Ginobili is amazing to watch when he’s on, and it’s his poor play in 3 out of the 4 games that has left them in a 3-1 hole facing elimination.

But wow, when he is on, he is a just a joy to watch:

I can’t believe it, but I’m also really enjoying watching the ball movement and intelligence of Duncan and Parker, two players who used to bore me to tears.

Despite my objections to who he is, Kobe Bryant has been amazing to watch – scoring seems so easy for him, and he has the most complete offensive game since Michael Jordan. But that is one of the things that also frustrates me about him – for a player of his natural abilities he should be putting up 40 point games on a regular basis and just blowing teams out of the water in crucial games like today’s Game 4. Have a look at the highlights below and you will see great play after great play, but I am still not convinced that he has the cold-blooded determination that Michael Jordan seemed to channel effortlessly:

There was a moment in their Game 3 loss when Kobe scored 10 points in 1:40 of the final quarter, but his team had dug too big a hole for even that to pull them out. Jordan would never allow that to happen. Jordan also would never have gone for the highlight points when running down the clock would afford them the best chance at victory, unlike Kobe whose brain-fart almost cost the Lakers today’s game.

And of course there was the controversial no-foul call at the end of the game today – personally I think Brent Barry didn’t do enough to sell it and that’s why they didn’t get the call. Despite his great performance today, the ball should not have been in Barry’s hands when down by 2 with 2 seconds on the clock.

I’ll actually be hoping for a Spurs comeback in Games 5 and 6, but I think the Spurs Dynasty is coming to an end, and I am stunned that I think I will miss it.